Market Conditions – As we get closer to Chinese New Year overall capacity is tight on the majority of Transpacific Eastbound trade lanes. Ocean carriers historically build a “roll pool” at this time to maintain a minimum level of container volume to sustain sailings during the holiday and we expect no different circumstances this year. The market has announced many blank sailings during and post-holiday time frame (please see below chart) to keep supply/demand somewhat balanced to avoid short term rates in the market from falling off.

Domestically the market is facing challenges on the intermodal and last mile deliveries as can be expected during the winter months with winter storms and extreme cold being the major contributing factor. Delivery delays in the Midwest were being reported market wide and intermodal rail delay dwells were averaging 4+ days in Vancouver and Prince Rupert. YOY volume through Canadian intermodal gateways increased by 26% which is also a contributing factor on why the market is seeing dwell times increase. The terminals in general have the capacity to handle the volume however during peak shipping months is when the infrastructures are put to the test. Throw in a couple of winter storms and artic outbreaks and supply chain headaches can quickly increase.

The market continues to experience an environment of increasing domestic dray rates since the implementation of Electronic Logging Device (ELD). The increases are especially transparent on long haul drays where the opportunity for a dray carrier to perform multiple moves within one business day is remote at best.

The ocean alliances and independent carriers are in the process of announcing their 2018 service lane and transit time matrix and will be finalized over the next several weeks, please reach out to your Laufer sales representative for a copy of our 2018 Alliance and Carrier service guide.

Blank Sailings – A total of 28 blank sailings were announced to the market starting in week 7 through week 10. .

General Rate Increases announced in the market - March 1, 2018 proposed GRI on average of $1000/40’

Our #1 priority as always is to help maintain our customers’ competitiveness, to keep your cargo flowing as quickly and as consistently as possible, and to continue to communicate effectively along the way. Our nimbleness, market awareness, and “Built Different” philosophy enable us to do this - as your partner.